An unauthorised car park used by hundreds of holidaymakers near Bristol Airport is facing an investigation.

Oakwood Airport Parking – based on the A38 in Lulsgate Bottom, about a mile from the airport terminal – tells visitors to its website that it provides "the closest car parking to Bristol Airport" and says cars will be kept in a secure compound while they are on holiday.

But the website also says cars could be moved "up to 4 miles each way" - and a nearby resident claims hundreds of cars belonging to Oakwood customers are being driven further up the A38 towards Bristol into Newditch Lane, then left in a field on green belt land.

Oakwood Aiport Parking's site on the A38 (Image: Google)

North Somerset Council says it will be carrying out "enforcement investigations" into the operation.

The Felton resident, who asked not to be named, says she made the connection between Oakwood and the car park in the field after driving behind a sports car from the main Oakwood site to the secluded field in Newditch Lane. There she claims she saw up to 500 cars parked.

No-one from Oakwood was available to comment on the resident's claims.

The company has a 4.7-out-of-five star rating, based on reviews on its website. It advises customers to call a number as soon as they have landed and collected their luggage to arrange a transfer, which it says takes two minutes from the airport.

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When the Bristol Post tried to contact Oakwood an employee declined to comment, saying the firm's boss was out for an indefinite period and he did not have any contact details for him.

The field in Newditch Lane (Image: Bristol Post)

“I don’t know. You’ll have to speak to the boss but he’s out. I don’t know when he’s back,” the worker said.

In January last year, two unauthorised car parks for airport passengers were shut down in Backwell after a North Somerset Council planning inspector ruled they were an inappropriate use of the green belt.